“Those are the moves that get coaches fired.”
This was the reaction of basketball coach Vincent “Chot” P. Reyes to a sports analogy of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso about his call for a rival to withdraw from the race.
Domagoso, who is running for the presidency in the May elections, made this call to Vice President Leni Robredo, who is currently in the second spot in election surveys, during a joint presser last Sunday, April 17.
When asked about it during his campaign sortie the next day, Monday, Moreno responded with a basketball analogy on benching a player who could not shoot.
“It was only a reaction to what Secretary Norberto Gonzales is saying, his analysis. And it makes sense. Kumbaga, sa basketball, pag hindi maka-shoot yung player, sub mo na,” Moreno said.
During the conference, former defense secretary Norberto Gonzales pitched to create another “number 2” to fight against the frontrunner in the elections.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is currently the presidential candidate leading the poll surveys, followed by Robredo.
Moreno, Gonzales, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, and three other hopefuls who are trailing behind voters’ preferences, are the ones who called for the presser held at The Peninsula Manila in Makati City.
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Reactions to the basketball analogy
Interaksyon editor later sought a reaction on Twitter on this analogy based on the perspective of a professional basketball coach.
The tweet reads: “Can we get a reaction from a pro basketball coach to comment on Isko’s analogy: benching the top offensive player to let the score laggards pull three-pointers. How sound is that po?”
Reyes, current Gilas and TNT Tropang Giga mentor, replied: “Those are the moves that get coaches fired.”
Those are the moves that get coaches fired
— Chot Reyes (@coachot) April 18, 2022
The veteran coach also formally declared his support for the tandem of Robredo and Sen. Kiko Pangilinan via an Instagram video.
“Laban lang!” Reyes said in the caption.
View this post on Instagram
Sports journalist Camille Naredo also shared her view on Moreno’s remark.
Naredo questioned the motive of an imagined “coach” behind the odd strategy.
“Sino ba ‘yung coach in this regard? Kasi parang hindi naman pagod si top-scorer. ‘Hot hand’ pa nga kung iisipin,” Naredo said.
“And statistically, hindi naman mama-match nung mga bench warmers ‘yung output niya. So ang tanong, ano ba gustong mangyari nung ‘coach’ dito,” she added.
Basketball statistics page HumbleBola also stated that the only time to bench a top offensive player is if he or she has an “error-prone performance.”
“The only time you let your role players take a large chunk of the shots is when your top offensive player’s having an error-prone performance. The top offensive player’s actually been on an uptrend as of late. Keep the ball on the hot hand,” the page tweeted.
‘Hot hand’ 101
A “hot hand” is a term in basketball that refers to “a streak in which they seem magically to make shot after shot,” according to some economists.
They, however, concluded in an article that this phenomenon might be a “cognitive illusion” in some game settings.
They cited a 1985 study by Gilovich, Vallone, and Tversky that also reached the same conclusion.
“Our findings are consistent with a hot hand existing due to muscle memory from repeated physical movements. But this muscle memory appears to dissipate quickly or is easily overwhelmed by other factors,” the economists said.
“Thus, on balance, our results suggest that the original hypothesis posed by GVT is largely correct: there is not a hot hand in the setting where most observers believe one to be,” they added.
